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The Walking Dead: "Now" (Season 6, Epsiode 5)

After three compelling episodes of action and one of sincere character development, the writers decided to downshift tonight. And I'll be darned if they didn't completely stall out. As in snoozeville.

The Alexandria safe zone is now under siege by a host of Walkers so we spent our hour on random vignettes with the people inside. These might have worked as asides layered into other episodes. Jammed together so inelegantly in one episode, however, it was contrived and boring, never able to rise above its obvious purpose as filler.

There's not much of a story here, so I might as well just list the happenings:

Rick came back and gave a speech about hanging tough.

Deana acted weak and feckless for most of the episode but found her groove thing by hacking away at a Walker.

The Alexandrians acted weak and feckless in mass, trying to use up all their supplies in aday until shamed by a lame speech from Spencer, Deana's son.

The strain of giving that lame speech made Spencer get drunk.

Carl got in a fight with that other kid whose name I don't remember at the moment. It's certainly not worth looking up for this episode.

Tara got a same sex kiss from the new doctor.

Jessie killed a Walker and gave a lame speech about the way things are now.

There was a discussion about cookies.

Rick made out with Jesse, which is really creepy since he killed her abusive husband in what feels like only a couple of days ago.

The only thing even remotely interesting was Maggie's need to find Glen. She intended to head out on her own until Aaron intervened. He offered instead to lead her under the walls through some old sewer systems that predated the Alexandria development. That led to another gross tour de force as they uncovered two almost disintegrated Walkers who'd been trapped under rubble. Double extra ick. Alas, when Aaron and Maggie reached the exit they found it already covered by Walkers. The siege continues.

Oh, and Maggie is pregnant. Not to mention that she kept hope alive by erasing Glen's name from the memorial wall. Good for her. She's the only character that even tried to tell a story this week.

For the record, I would like to note something very annoying about this season as well. They've decided to have a "Fear the Walking Dead" webisode unveiled in the commercials--a sixteen minute episode unveiled one minute a week between commercials. To try and keep track of it would be like having a seizure. Thanks, guys.

Even the ending of this episode is lame. As Deana walks determinedly by the wall, we see a crack develop in her wake. A big, cartoonish crack. Everything about this episode is clunky.

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